Chi Sao is important because you have to train your sense of touch as well as your visual reflexes. Fighting happenes at the speed of reflex action not at the speed of normal thought. So you have to train your contact reflexes so that you can respond automatically to the opponents movement. Basic Contact reflex is you move and I react with a counter. Sensitivity is you attack and I respond with an appropriate counter that has a strategy putting you on the defensive and under pressure. This would be similar to burning your hand you don't think about how you are going to pull your hand away next time you burn it. It just happens. This level of naturalness takes time and unfortunatly people insist on holding onto drills and elements of Wing Chun that are simply out dated they don't work, because they are traditional or for more techniques to teach there students. You don't try to stick with your opponent in a fight but if you are in close you can read his energy, hitting is the objective or to the ground and grapple. You can't stay with the old idea of Wing Chun you have to cross train a bit!

Chi Sao is important because you have to train your sense of touch as well as your visual reflexes. Fighting happenes at the speed of reflex action not at the speed of normal thought. So you have to train your contact reflexes so that you can respond automatically to the opponents movement. Basic Contact reflex is you move and I react with a counter. Sensitivity is you attack and I respond with an appropriate counter that has a strategy putting you on the defensive and under pressure. This would be similar to burning your hand you don't think about how you are going to pull your hand away next time you burn it. It just happens. This level of naturalness takes time and unfortunatly people insist on holding onto drills and elements of Wing Chun that are simply out dated they don't work, because they are traditional or for more techniques to teach there students. You don't try to stick with your opponent in a fight but if you are in close you can read his energy, hitting is the objective or to the ground and grapple. You can't stay with the old idea of Wing Chun you have to cross train a bit!

Chi Sao is important because you have to train your sense of touch as well as your visual reflexes. Fighting happenes at the speed of reflex action not at the speed of normal thought. So you have to train your contact reflexes so that you can respond automatically to the opponents movement. Basic Contact reflex is you move and I react with a counter. Sensitivity is you attack and I respond with an appropriate counter that has a strategy putting you on the defensive and under pressure. This would be similar to burning your hand you don't think about how you are going to pull your hand away next time you burn it. It just happens. This level of naturalness takes time and unfortunatly people insist on holding onto drills and elements of Wing Chun that are simply out dated they don't work, because they are traditional or for more techniques to teach there students. You don't try to stick with your opponent in a fight but if you are in close you can read his energy, hitting is the objective or to the ground and grapple. You can't stay with the old idea of Wing Chun you have to cross train a bit!